Worth Fighting For
by phoenixfire53
Summary: One night was all it took to bring Lee 'Apollo' Adama and Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace together. And one night was all it took for the two of them to realize what was worth fighting for.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **To all you awesome people reading this, WASSUP! Big shoutout to you guys for reading this! Really means a lot to me! :] Anyways, hope y'all enjoy what's coming to ya!!

**Title: **Worth Fighting For

**Summary: **One night on New Caprica was all it took to change the lives of Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace and Lee 'Apollo' Adama. One night was all it would take for the two to realize what was worth fighting for.

**Rating: **At the moment, I'm just keeping this piece of work PG-13. But hey, at some point, this might make a combat turn and cruise on down to R-rating, and even though I SERIOUSLY doubt this'll happen at all, NC-17. You never know, really.

**Disclaimer: **As depressed as I am about saying this, I don't own Battlestar Galactica – not the ideas, nor the characters. They sure as hell belong to the directors though….damn them for making Lee Adama so drool-worthy and Starbuck so badass. Oh well. :P

**And now! (drum roll begins) The moment you've all been waiting for….FANFIC TIME!! (pulls spastic happy dance) Woot!! :D Anyway, I'll let you people get to reading now. When you're done, REVIEW PLEASE! REVIEWS ARE POWER!! (strikes a pose) Now get a job!**

**-------**

It was early morning as Kara stumbled into her quarter's bathroom in a state of nausea. She collapsed on the floor, bent her head over the steel toilet bowl, and emptied the freakishly rainbow-colored contents of her stomach into it. After a minute of repeating the process, Kara rested her head against the sink, and gulped in as much air as her lungs would allow her to. Gods, she felt like shit; her head was reeling, her stomach was burning, and she felt cramped and sore in every place she could think of. Kara hadn't felt this bad since she had the stomach flu a few weeks ago.

A sudden knock on the door jolted Kara out of the state of exhaustion she'd started to slip into. "What?" she grumbled tiredly.

"Captain Thrace?"

Kara immediately recognized Hotdog's worried voice on the other side of the bathroom door. "Hotdog?"

"Yes sir. You all right in there?"

"Just fine, lieutenant," she lied as she hoisted herself up off the floor and flushed away the evidence of her nausea. She was anything _but _fine at the moment, but really wasn't in the mood to say so to Hotdog.

She opened the door, and found him staring at her with concern in his eyes. "How long have you been up?" Kara yawned.

Hotdog shrugged. "Since you started doing whatever the hell it was in the bathroom."

"Oh...you didn't have to sacrifice your snoozetime for me, kiddo. I'm gonna be fine." She gave him a gentle noogie. "Hit your rack for a couple more hours, 'kay? You're gonna need the rest."

"Yes sir. Just making sure you weren't barfing up a lung of something like that."

"Nah. I think it was my stomach telling last night's algae to frak off," Kara half-smiled, even though she didn't really think that was why her stomach had been acting funky for the past month.

A tired Hotdog obediently trudged back to his bunk, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Kara, on the other hand, gingerly repositioned herself on her bunk, and grasped her stomach.

About a bazillion odd thoughts were going through Kara's head as she stared at the ceiling. She found it weird when her thoughts drifted to Helo's wife, Sharon, and when she'd been pregnant. She remembered how Sharon would bitch about "morning sickness" and the fact that her kid would completely sap her energy every single day. Even weirder though, was the fact that pregnancy made Kara think about Lee Adama and that one night they spent together on New Caprica. She shivered slightly as she remembered the warmth of his skin against hers, and the giddiness and joy that welled up in her as he shouted, "LEE ADAMA LOVES KARA THRACE!" to the night sky.

Kara suddenly gasped. People got pregnant and had babies when they had sex. People also barfed like nobody's frakking business during month one. All she could think about was that it had been a couple months since her and Lee's New Caprica incident, that she'd been puking her guts out since then, and that she couldn't remember the last time she'd had her period. Which meant....

"I'm probably pregnant," Kara whispered flabbergastedly before vaulting out of her bunk and on to the floor of her quarters. "FRAK ME!"

Hotdog, who had been startled awake by Kara's outburst, sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Woulda figured you'd hit your rack too, Captain."

"Shove it, Hotdog. Anybody comes looking for me and asks where I am, tell them I'm with Sharon."

He nodded, then collapsed back on his bunk. "Emotions are more colorful than a frakking mood ring," Hotdog grumbled to himself, unaware that Kara's sudden hitch in feelings wasn't really a Starbuck-like thing she went through on a daily basis.

Ignoring the little comment about her emotions, Kara dashed out of the pilot's bunk area, and headed towards the family quarters.

-------

In the five minutes it took her to sprint down the halls to the family quarters, Kara had managed to wake up every single person on board the Galactica with her screams of "SHARON! SHARON!" and rantings about her possible pregnancy. She finally skidded to a stop and stared at the hatch standing in front of her - Helo's, Sharon's, and Hera's quarters.

Out of breath and bursting with energy, Kara banged her slightly-calloused fists on the hatch to the quarters as hard as her viper-flying body would let her, and frantically called out for Sharon.

"Sharon! Sharon, it's Starbuck! Wake up!"

When she heard nothing but lazy silence for a few seconds, Kara's hands battered the hatch even harder. "Sharon Agathon, wake the frak up before I come in there and drag your naked cylon ass out here!" she threatened irritably.

At last, the sound of somebody groaning and trudging over to the entrance on the other side brought Kara's hatch beating to a complete standstill. The hatch finally opened, and there stood Sharon, who looked even more tired and frazzled than when she'd been hopped up on stims for five days straight, and who looked ready to bite Kara's head off.

"Are you nuts, Kara?! It's five in the morning! What the frak are you doing?!"

Kara quickly cut off Sharon before she could go into a tangent and give her a respect-the-newborn-mother speech. "Spare me the lecture." She took a deep breath, and tried to keep herself from absolutely freaking out as she said, "I think I'm pregnant, Sharon."

Sharon raised an eyebrow. "Pregnant? I think those G's from flying are getting to you, Starbuck."

"I'm dead serious, Sharon!" Kara hissed. Her hands gripped the doorframe in an iron grip, and her entire body shook. "I've been puking my brains out for a month now, and I've been cramped up like a frakking charlie horse! I haven't felt this shitty since I was on New Caprica!"

"You've probably got a bad case of stomach flu then. Barfing a lot isn't really a sign that you're pregnant, and neither is cramps."

Kara slammed her hands on the doorframe in frustration. "Dammit Sharon! Will you cut the bullshit and believe what I'm saying to you already?!"

"Believe what already?" Sharon's husband, Helo, asked curiously as he came up behind his wife and kissed her on the temple. "What's got you all worked up, Buck?"

"Nothing you need to know, Helo."

Sharon sighed. "Girl's business, baby." She returned the kiss, only she planted it on Helo's lips instead of his temple. "It'll only take a few more minutes."

"In that case, I'll leave you two alone," he smirked before sauntering back off to his bunk.

Kara's mind suddenly wandered away from the conversation she'd been having with Sharon as she stared at Helo's well-defined backside. _Sharon's a pretty lucky cylon,_ she thought. _Helo's a good piece of meat. Almost as good as Lee. _

_Lee._

The thought of the old man's son made Kara's heart ache intensely; Lee 'Apollo' Adama had a way of driving her abso-frakking-lutely insane with his looks, his intellect, and his crazy-awesome talent in a Viper. As far as Kara was concerned, Lee's callsign suited him perfectly. She was also concerned that he'd been the best goddamn thing to walk in - and out - of her life.

"Starbuck? Starbuck. Caprica to Starbuck." Sharon waved her hand in front of Kara's empty-looking face. "You okay?"

Kara blinked a couple times and shook her head. "Sorry. I was having a weird moment," she apologized quickly to the cylon woman standing in front of her. "What were we talking about again?"

"Whether or not you're pregnant."

"Yeah, that." Kara reset herself to her previous state. "Like I was saying before, you HAVE to believe what I'm telling you, Agathon."

"Okay....let's say I do believe you, but I'm trying to figure out how you think you're pregnant," Sharon said before pursing her lips in thought. "When was the last time you had your period?"

Kara scratched her head, trying to rack her brain for any recollection of when she'd last had her 'special time.' A month or two, maybe? She couldn't be sure, really.

"Can't recall...my guess is a while ago. Two months, probably."

Sharon's eyes grew as big as teacup saucers the instant "two months" slipped out of Kara's mouth. "Two months?!"

"Yup," Kara nodded. "Still don't think I'm pregnant?"

"Oh, I think you're pregnant now!" Sharon snorted as she yanked Kara off the floor. She hastily poked her head into her quarters. "Helo, watch Hera for me!"

Helo gave Sharon a strange look. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Taking Kara down to see Cottle! Be back in twenty!"

Then, Sharon grabbed Kara's wrists, and proceeded to drag her down to sick bay.

-------

Lee sat at his desk on board the Pegasus, filling out an overwhelmingly large stack of request papers the battlestar's crew members had sent to him about an hour ago. He groaned boredly as he robotically signed a request, put it in the sending pile, and pulled another one from the received pile.

The buzzer to his office sounded, and the young voice of a woman crackled over the intercom. "Permission to come in, sir?"

"Permission granted. Come in," Lee sighed.

The hatch opened, and in walked an average-sized woman with yet another stack of papers in her copper-colored arms. She half-smiled at Lee as she neatly placed the papers on his desk.

Lee groaned again as he glanced at the stack on his right. He stopped what he was doing, stood up, and gently kissed the dark-skinned woman on the lips. She happily kissed him back, and rested her forehead on his.

"Feeling better now?" the woman whispered softly.

Lee shook his head. "I'd feel a lot better if I didn't have to sign all these goddamn papers." He closed his eyes, and breathed in the woman's lovely, fragrant scent. "Dee, _why _do I have to do this all the time?"

Dee gently pulled away from him, and met his deep blue eyes with her soft moss-colored eyes. "You're the commander of the Pegasus, Lee. It's part of your job to sign requests." She drew a thin finger along Lee's perfectly formed cheekbone. "It's a lot more serious than being a viper pilot. If it wasn't as serious as it is, then people would call it something else."

"Guess you're right." He smiled gently at Dee, then kissed her deeply. For a few moments, all the two of them did was caress each other's mouths with a very soft tenderness. Then, Dee took the kiss further when she slid her tongue out of her mouth and ran it seductively along Lee's bottom lip.

The feel of her tongue against his mouth sent shivers throughout Lee. _Damn, she's a good kisser, _he thought. _Almost as good of a kisser as Kara is. _

The thought of Kara sent tiny pangs through him. His mind lingered to the memory of them and the night they'd shared on New Caprica; he could vividly see her brilliant hazel eyes as they shone in the bright light of the moon, and he could feel the smoothness of her skin as their bodies molded together in a passion-filled haze. In an almost split-second, Lee Adama immediately felt like he had gone from kissing Dee Dualla, to kissing Kara Thrace.

Dee all of sudden pushed Lee away from her, and placed her hands on her hips in mild exasperation. "Lee, why the hell did you do that?"

"Why did I do what, Dee?" he asked in a confused voice. "Why I kissed you is pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"

"I'm not talking about that. Why were you groping me?"

_Groping me? Who talks like that anymore? _

"What the hell are you talking about, Dee? I didn't _grope _you-"

"Lee, you were grabbing my frakking _ass,_" she snapped irritably.

Lee's face burned and quickly turned the color of a cherry tomato in embarrassment. "I was?"

She nodded her head slowly. "What did I tell you? No-"

"Sex or grab-fanny until I propose to you and we get married after Earth is found," Lee recited boredly.

"And _why _do we have this rule, Lee?"

"Because you aren't comfortable having a serious relationship while the cylons are still a threat to us."

"Exactly." Dee quickly pressed her lips to Lee's, and cupped his face in her hands. "I'll admit though, that was fun."

For a second, Lee stared oddly at Dee. What she'd just said to him sounded so much like a Starbuck quote that it scared the bejeezus out of him.

Apparently, the shock of Lee's realization was showing all over his face, because Dee pursed her lips and said, "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he shrugged as he felt a bout of awkwardness come on between them. In an attempt to escape it, he returned to his desk, and resumed the grueling paperwork. "I should get these finished so I don't have to deal with them later."

"Good idea. I should actually be getting back to work too, so I'm leaving." Dee stepped through the hatch, and walked off to her station. "See you later, Lee."

The moment she disappeared from his range of sight, Lee sighed, and laid his head on the desk. He'd worry about the request papers later; for now, he just wanted to escape reality and rest a bit.

He fell asleep within a few minutes, and quickly began to dream.

And the entire time Lee dreamed, he dreamed of Kara, and the idea of being with her again.

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**KYAA!!! FINISHED!!!! :D HOPE Y'ALL LIKED IT!! ANYWAY, R&R!! REVIEWS ARE POWER!!!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Well, hope you people enjoyed the first chapter. CHAPTER TWO BEING BROADCASTED TO YOU RIGHT NOW! :D

**Disclaimer: **I own a bitchin' Fender J Bass. I don't own Battlestar Galactica, though – not so bitchin', but nothing I can really do about it.

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"Jesus Christ Sharon, ease up on the wrists! Where the frak are we going?"

Sharon gave Kara an irritated glare. "You were the one who got me up at five this morning to tell me you're probably pregnant. So, we're paying a little visit to Doc Cottle."

"Frak, Cottle's the last person that I need to see right now," Kara muttered. She absolutely _despised _the sickbay doctor and the way he acted around her when she was carted to him on a gurney. It was surprising to say, but she believed that Sherman Cottle and his blunt sarcasm were worse than what Colonel Tigh could roll out, and that was saying something.

"Well well well, Starbuck...up and already causing chaos, are we?" Cottle's blunt voice asked.

Kara blinked a couple times, unaware that it had taken all of four minutes for her and Sharon to get down to sickbay. _Damn, that was quick._

"You wish, doc."

"No, I'd rather prefer that you be a good pilot and save the beds for the other poor saps." Cottle quickly noticed Sharon standing beside Kara, and raised a bushy eyebrow in surprise. "What brings you to sickbay early this morning, Miss Agathon?"

"I'm holding the reason's wrists right now. You wouldn't mind running a couple tests on her, would you Cottle?"

Cottle snorted, lit a cigarette, and placed it between his thin lips. "If you're asking me to run a mental health test on her, then I'm not gonna bother. Everybody on Galactica knows that Kara's crazier than a shithouse rat already," he shrugged nonchalantly.

Kara gave Cottle a dark glare. "Don't piss me off, gramps. I'll sock you if you call me a shithouse rat again, and I honestly won't give a flying frak if you're an old fossil." She smiled sweetly at the doctor. "Clear?"

"I'm terrified. Now can you tell me why the hell you're here, Captain Thrace?"

Sharon quickly answered for Kara. "Can you run a pregnancy test on Kara?" she asked Cottle flatly.

"P-pregnancy test? Kara?!" Cottle burst out laughing as his brain digested what Sharon just asked him. "You can't be serious!"

"She's dead serious, buddy," Kara sneered. "Can you cut the shit now, and tell me if I'm frakking knocked up or what?"

A still-laughing Cottle nodded, then walked off to get his neccessary tools, while Kara and Sharon found someplace to sit.

"Sure as hell hope you're right about being pregnant, Kara," Sharon sighed as the both of them sat in the silence of sickbay.

Kara half-smiled. "I'm hoping I'm right too, Sharon."

Cottle suddenly reappeared with a small cart and computer moniter towing behind him. He quickly wheeled the cart behind a curtain, then waved Kara and Sharon over. "You wanted to know, Captain, so get your cocky ass over here!"

Kara rolled her eyes. _Crabby old bastard, _she thought.

She stepped through the curtain, and lay down on the hospital bed while Sharon took a seat next to her. As soon as everybody had settled down, Cottle proceeded to pump Kara full of saline and jam close to a dozen needles in her stomach.

"Most women would cry like their kids at this part."

"Yeah, well I'm not like most women, if you haven't noticed already," Kara retorted.

"Obviously." Once all the needles where in place, Cottle's attention zeroed in on the computer moniter next to him. He began to rapidly type things on to the screen, humming to himself as he did so. After twelve minutes of doing this, Cottle stopped what he was doing, and turned to Kara.

"Do you want to know what's going on?"

Kara groaned in exasperation. "What do you think, genius? Am I pregnant or not?" she snapped.

A deafening silence hung over the curtained-off area like smoke hanging over a fire. It only lasted for a few seconds, but to Kara, it seemed to last forever.

Finally, Cottle cleared his throat, and gazed sharply at Kara. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but....you're pregnant, Captain Thrace. Congratulations."

_I'm pregnant. I'M PREGNANT!_

"HOLY FRAK!!" Kara screamed excitedly before turning to hug Sharon. "I'M PREGNANT!!"

"Congrats, Kara! I'm so happy for you!"

Another awkward throat-clearing from Cottle brought the celebration to a complete halt. "Hate to interrupt, but do we want a paternity test?"

Even though she knew very well who the father of her child was, Kara said yes. She always had a very good reason for the decisions she made, and she had a very good reason for the one she was making right now.

Sharon held up her arms in a what-are-you-doing position. "Don't you know who the father is?" she asked Kara strangely.

"Damn skippy I do."

"So then why are you asking for a frakking paternity test?"

Kara flashed Sharon a classic Starbuck smirk. "You'll figure it out once the thing's finished."

And that's exactly what happened. Cottle took some samples, typed everything up, and printed off the results of the test in all of five minutes. He shoved the paper into Kara's outstretched hands, then bid her farewell with a long list of pregnancy restrictions and his request for her to "get the hell out of sickbay and go bother somebody else."

"That's probably gonna be the only time the old prick's not a complete bastard to me," Kara chuckled sarcastically when she couldn't see Cottle anymore.

"Jesus, you and Cottle are worse than you and Tigh," Sharon criticized. "Now, what's the deal with the paternity test?"

Kara boredly passed the test results to Sharon, who couldn't stop fidgeting from all the curiosity that had built up inside her. "You're gonna _love _this."

Sharon snatched the paper out of Kara's hands, and quickly skimmed over it. Her dark-brown eyes froze when they reached the name of the father; they instantly widened in shock, and her mouth formed a little 'o' as she read the name.

"Is this a joke?"

"Never saw that coming, did ya?"

"Hell no! I honestly don't see how frakking Lee Adama is the father of your kid, and I seriously doubt he's gonna see that too!" Sharon squeaked.

Kara grinned. "That's why I had Cottle run a paternity test. Lee's gonna want proof that it's his, so I'm gonna give it to him."

Kara knew Lee Adama and his emotions like the back of her hand, which was impossible, considering that he either kept his feelings bottled up and saved for the battlefield or that he wore the same facial expression for each emotion. If he kept a stern and serious face, most people would assume he was acting that way. What they wouldn't assume was that he was probably hiding anger, happiness, or deep sadness. Next to his father, Kara was the only person that could recognize how he was feeling and why he was acting in such a way.

"Jesus frakking Christ Kara, how the hell did this happen?"

"Lee and I had sex on New Caprica one night. Simple." There were a lot more details that went into how Kara was knocked up by Lee, but she didn't want to share them with Sharon. They were too painful for her to talk about.

The fact that she wanted to avoid the rest breezed right over Sharon's head like a shooting star.

"Kara, I don't want the short and sweet version. I know there's more to it, so start talking."

Kara sighed, damning the Lords of Kobol for bestowing bad luck upon her, and Sharon for crossing the line and pressing the issue. Nonetheless, she knew it was pointless to try and weasel her way out of her situation, so she gave Sharon the details in one jumbled-up sentence.

"I'm getting some away time from my fiancee-"

"Fiancee?"

"Yes, fiancee." Kara rolled her eyes, annoyed that Sharon wouldn't stop badgering her with all these questions. "Remember Sam Anders?"

"Leader of the resistance group on New Caprica? That Sam Anders?"

"Yup."

"No way!" Sharon exclaimed.

"Yes way. I was engaged to Sam Anders. Can I get on with the story now, officer?"

When Sharon shut her mouth, Kara took a breath and went back to her explanation. "Anyway, I'm getting some away time from Sam, Lee's getting some away time from Dee, we get our funky on, and then - then..." Kara trailed off, the memory of her actions suddenly too overwhelming to bear and a wave of unpleasant anguish washing over her.

"Then what?" Sharon inquired softly.

"I leave him the next day. I was scared of what could happen to us if Sam or Dee found out." Kara's voice cracked a little as she spoke. "Lee tells me he loves me more than anything, more than his own LIFE, and what do I do? I completely frak things up and break his heart by abandoning him."

"Did Sam ever find out?"

"No...I abandoned him, too. I was too freaked out to tell him or to let him figure things out for himself, so I jumped a raptor headed for Galactica, and I haven't seen him since."

"My gods, Kara. What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," Kara choked. "All I know is that there's no way Lee can love a frak-up like me anymore. He probably hates me now."

Sharon pursed her lips and shrugged indifferently. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't."

"Not helping, Sharon," Kara muttered.

"Well, if Starbuck would shut up and Kara would listen, things might sound a lot better." Sharon stood up, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Look, you don't know if Lee actually hates you or is still stupidly in love with you. So, if I were you, I'd find out what's going on in that pretty little head of his."

What Sharon was saying to Kara as she moped in the hospital bed made sense to her. She honestly didn't know if Lee Adama hated her guts for ditching him, or if he was still unbelievably head-over-heels in love with her. Kara also didn't know if the old man's son was aware that she was as absolutely crazy about him as he once was about her. She suddenly wanted answers and acceptance now, but quickly became frustrated when she couldn't figure out how to exactly get them.

"I can't do anything, Sharon. Lee's off commanding the Pegasus, and no doubt screwing around with Dee," Kara babbled, making sure to say Dee's name like it was a rotten piece of fruit. "Plus, I'm banned from flying vipers now, so I can't jump in a flight suit and shuttle over to the damn ship."

Kara's lack of thinking and her air of helplessness immediately set Sharon off. "Godsdammit Kara, will you grow some balls and be bitchy Starbuck already!" She grabbed Kara's bony shoulders, and shook them violently. "Do you love Lee Adama?!"

Kara nodded her head energetically. She loved Lee so much it made her want to explode.

"More than my own life," she breathed.

"If you love him, find a way to tell him! Christ, I'd give you a lift in my raptor if you ask me to!" Sharon then let go of Kara's shoulders, and gazed at her sharply. "So what are you gonna do?!"

Now it was Kara's turn to stand up. She yanked the IV out of her arm, ignoring the pinched feeling as the needle slid out and a drop of blood formed over the punctured area. Then, she stood up slowly and proudly, and looked at Sharon like she was getting ready for a head hunt.

"Get a flight suit on and get the rapter cued up. Lee's gonna give me answers, and he's gonna give them to me now," Kara grinned wickedly.

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**AAAANNNNDDDD....DONE!!! HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY THIS CHAPPIE!! CHAPTER 3 WILL BE COMING SOON!! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Hello again, people!! Chapter 3 is a comin' on!!

Note – I recently got a review from one of my readers saying that I use "Jesus Christ" more often than I should. She pointed out to me that in the B.S.G. world, Jesus Christ doesn't exist. (Well, there might be a possibility that he exists in the cylon world, but I honestly am not sure about it.) So, if any of you readers see a character using "Jesus Christ" or any form of it as a cuss, then I apologize deeply. I'm trying to keep meself from using the word as infrequently as possible, and I'm also trying to keep the characters from going hay-wire and going WAY out of what people are used to. Once again, I deeply apologize.

**Disclaimer: **I own a Bauer X20 hockey stick. It. Is. The. SHIZZLE!! :D

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After getting her raptor fired up and telling Helo that she wouldn't back for another thirty minutes, Sharon stuffed Kara in a flight suit, and took her over to the Pegasus.

"Gods, I feel like a cylon P.O.W," Kara mumbled to Sharon after they'd been cleared to dock in the landing bay.

Sharon shook her head in annoyed disappointment as she eased the giant hunk of metal into the flight bay. "Kara. Calm. The frak. Down. It's not like Lee's gonna eat you the second you look at him funny or say something."

"Nope, but I have no doubt that he'd probably shoot me on sight."

"Frakking A, Kara! Cut the sissy b.s. and get your lazy ass in gear!" Sharon barked as she landed the raptor with a pissed-off _thunk. _"If you want to be with Lee and you want your kid to have a father, get out of here and go talk to him!"

She opened the door of the raptor, and shoved Kara out into the landing bay. As a final word of good luck - or what sounded like a final word of good luck in her mind - Sharon shouted, "Don't frak this up, Starbuck!"

Now desperate to escape Sharon's incessant hovering, Kara nodded once, then jogged off to find the commander's office. Her normally hardened stomach was now churning with growing dread and regret, and her entire body was buzzing with anxiety as she fluidly maneuvered through the halls of the Pegasus. At the moment, Kara didn't feel like her wise-cracking, gutsy usual self; she felt more like an overwhelmed, insecure nugget fresh out of basic flight and shoved straight into the war. It made her feel weak, and Kara absolutely HATED feeling weak. She was Starbuck, the best damn viper pilot the entire frakking fleet had ever encountered, not some mamby-pamby noob with a textbook-oriented brain, for gods' sakes!

Within minutesk Kara had managed to navigate her way to the commander's office as easily as she would have if she'd been on board the Galactica. Thing was though, Kara felt at home and welcome on the Galactica. The Pegasus was completely different; the ship felt so frakking cold and uninviting it made Kara shiver just thinking about it. It was like she wasn't wanted here, which seemed to make a dark kind of sense to her, now that Lee was running the godsdamned thing.

As she stood in front of the large iron hatch, Kara mentally debated going back to Galactica and avoiding Lee's man-wrath or staying here and sticking it out. She wanted to give up so badly it hurt her insides, but decided against it. She was going to talk to Lee, and she was going to give him a piece of her mind. In that instant, Kara knew she had to do it, not just for her unborn child, or just for Sharon - Kara knew she had to talk to Lee Adama for herself.

Ignoring the intercom to the right of it, Kara opened the hatch as quietly as humanly possible, and slipped inside. She expected to see Lee waiting patiently for her, but was slightly surprised - and annoyed, for that matter - when she found him asleep on his desk.

_Typical Lee. _

Kara quickly closed the hatch, then slipped into the shadows of his office.

-------

"Lee. Wake up."

As if his brain had been hardwired to obey anybody's command, Lee almost instantly jolted out of the state of fitful shut-eye he'd slipped into. His head reeled from the sudden awakening, and his sleep-filled brain couldn't produce a single coherent thought as he searched for whoever it was that was calling him.

"Dee?"

"Nope. Guess again, flyboy," a voice that did not sound like Dee's at all said harshly.

Lee was alert the instant the voice spoke to him. Was him, or did that voice sound a lot like Kara's?

"Starbuck?" Lee asked cautiously.

"Bingo!" A large figure emerged from the shadows, and slowly sauntered over to his desk.

Lee stared dumbfoundedly at Kara as she came over to where he was sitting. She was here. Kara Thrace, the one woman that made flying a viper look as easy as riding a bike; the one woman that could sweep a game of Triad before it even got a chance to start; the one woman that had stolen his heart in a few seconds and occupied most of his thoughts, was really here! His heart swelled with pure joy as her stared at her.

Yet, his heart also swelled with painful bitterness as Kara came closer. This was also the same woman that got to know him in every way possible that one night on New Caprica, then hurt him to the very core by leaving him the next day.

"What can I do for you, Captain Thrace?" Lee asked monotonously, even though he had a vague idea of what Kara was here for.

"First off, you can cut the commander shit, Lee. You know damn well why I'm here."

Lee's hands gripped the arms of his chair hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "Really, Kara? I'd LOVE to know why you left me on New Caprica that one morning."

"I never wanted to leave you, and I never meant to hurt you."

"So why did you, then? Why?"

"I honestly didn't have a choice, Lee. We-"

Lee snapped all of a sudden. "DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE?! LIKE HELL YOU DID, KARA! DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU DIDN'T HAVE A GODSDAMNED CHOICE!" he shouted lividly.

"I WAS PROTECTING YOU, PROTECTING US!" Kara shouted back with the same amount of anger in her voice. "YOU AND I BOTH KNEW WE RISKED BEING FOUND OUT BY GODS KNOWS WHO IF WE STAYED TOGETHER IN THE FIELD THAT MORNING!"

"WE WERE RISKING BEING FOUND OUT WAY BEFORE THIS HAPPENED, AND I COULD TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU DIDN'T GIVE A FLYING FRAK ABOUT IT BACK THEN!" Lee glared at Kara furiously, his piercing blue eyes drilling holes into her dark hazel eyes intensely. "SO WHY DID YOU DO IT?!"

"DAMMIT ALL LEE-"

"WERE YOU BORED WITH ME, STARBUCK?! IS THAT WHY YOU LEFT ME, HUH?! YOU WERE BORED WITH FRAKKING-"

Kara's right hand suddenly connected with Lee's left cheek as she slapped him as hard as she could. Lee stumbled backwards from the force of the impact, and his head jerked to the side a little. He instantly regretted the comment he'd brainlessly made to Kara, and wished he could take it back. Lee slowly turned his gaze back to Kara, and what he saw would have been enough to haunt his memories for months. She stood in an unnaturally rigid position, and she was clutching her stomach like he'd punched or kicked her there. Her brownish-green eyes were swimming with despair and frustration, and her skin was as white as cake flour.

"I'm such a godsdamned frak-up, Lee...what have I done?" she whispered in a voice that he could barely hear, even when he was standing a few centimeters away from her.

Lee slowly reached out to take her left hand. "No, I'm the frak-up, Kara. I shouldn't have said that at all-"

Kara's face all of a sudden went from a pasty white to a sickly green. She turned away from him, and bolted for the head as fast as she could go. Thinking that she was trying to run away from him, Lee followed her at about the same speed. "Dammit Kara, wait a minute!"

She darted inside the bathroom, and slammed the door shut just as Lee was about to step through. Confused, he came to a halt in front of the door, and put his ear to the hatch. Moments later, he heard the sickening sound of Kara retching the contents of her stomach into the head.

Not wanting to listen to Kara's heavings, Lee backed away from the hatch, and leaned against a wall tiredly; he hadn't felt this drained of energy since the last time he'd had an argument with Kara, and that was a while ago.

The sound of the head flushing and short gasps brought Lee back to the current reality he was in. He put his ear to the hatch again, and this time heard Kara gasping, as well as sobbing softly.

"Kara?"

When she didn't answer, Lee quickly opened the hatch and stepped through. There, he found Kara sitting on the floor, her head in her arms, her body shaking with each passing sob. She looked so sorrowful and distressed that she reminded Lee of an abused child.

The need to be close to her and comfort her washed over Lee like a giant tidal wave; he silently crept over to where Kara was hunched over, took a seat beside her, and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders. He then took her chin in his hands, and turned her head so she was looking right at him.

"You okay, Kara?" Lee asked softly.

For a moment, Kara stared at him helplessly, her eyes brimming with tears and unimaginable pain. Then, she shook her head, and haltingly choked out, "No. I'm, not, okay. My stomach, feels, like shit."

"Stomach flu?"

Kara shook her head again. _Oh gods, _she thought. _You have no frakking idea, Lee. _

"It's not, stomach flu, Lee," she rasped stiffly. "I'm, pregnant."

Lee's mind couldn't comprehend what he'd just heard Kara say to him. There was no way in hell that she could be pregnant, not now or ever! "You're p-pregnant?"

"Yes, Lee." Kara slowly reached into her pants pocket, and withdrew a folded piece of paper. "I knew, you wouldn't believe, me at first, so, I had this, taken."

He snatched the paper out of her hands, and unfolded it as quickly as a little kid unwrapping a birthday present. Once unfolded, it revealed to Lee the results of a paternity test - with his name on it.

_Lee Adama. He was the father of Kara Thrace's child. _

"Oh my gods...oh, my, frakking, GODS."

"That's sort of why I came here." All traces of raspiness suddenly disappeared as Kara spoke to Lee. "I knew better than to surprise you later, so I figured it would've been smarter if I told you now."

Lee stared at Kara like she'd suddenly grown a third eye. "You can't be serious about this, Kara. You CANNOT be serious."

"I'm dead serious, Lee. Ask Cottle if you still don't believe me...I can guarantee you right now that he'll tell you the same thing."

Lee sighed heavily, and held his head in his hands. It seemed to him that in the past few minutes, his entire life and all possible sanity had gone down the tubes, never to be seen or heard from again - all because Kara Thrace, the love of his entire frakking life, was pregnant with his child.

"Kara, I honestly don't think I'm ready to be a dad. It's too soon for me."

The first sentence to slip out of Lee's mouth hit Kara in the heart like a mag-lev train; for someone that was almost-always ready for the completely unthinkable, he sure as hell was acting like he wasn't in the least bit prepared for it. It immediately triggered her pissy Starbuck persona in the worst way.

"That's fine, Lee. That's just frakking fine. You know what, let me know when you get some balls and a little decency, okay?" she snapped, her scratchy voice oozing with angry sarcasm. "Until then, you can stay away from me and be an asshole and a coward on your godsdamned battlestar." Satisfied with herself, Kara then stormed out of the bathroom, past a very confused Dee, and headed back to the landing bay.

A moment later, Lee trudged out of the bathroom, and met Dee's puzzled expression with a guilty look in his cerulean-colored eyes. Dee noticed the sad glint, and gripped his biceps gently.

"Lee? What the hell happened in there?" Dee asked inquiringly. "What was Starbuck doing in the head?"

In a flash of instinct, Lee lied and said, "She wasn't feeling good, but she wasn't sure what was going on with her, so she asked me if I could find out." Lee paused for a brief second before continuing with the lie. "She's got a minor case of stomach flu."

Dee gave him a suspicious look, trying to decide if he was lying or not. Luckily, she bought it, and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. "All right then. Sorry to hear that she has stomach flu...hope she gets better soon."

The feeling of guilt bloomed dynamically in Lee's gut as Dee pressed another kiss to his lips; he felt as if he were betraying Kara by letting Dee touch him in a such a suggestive way. In fact, the sense of betrayal towards her grew so overwhelming that Lee had to shove Dee away from him to stop it.

"Lee? What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's not that I'm in the mood for that right now....I just need a break from my job." He wriggled himself free from Dee's grasp, and started to head to the flight bay. "You're in charge until I get back, okay?"

"Gotcha," Dee smirked.

Lee quickly kissed Dee on the cheek, then jogged out to get a flight suit and his viper ready. He was taking a little trip over to Galactica.

-------

**DONE!!!! I FRAKKIN' LURVED WRITING THIS CHAPTER!! HOPE YOU PEOPLE ENJOY IT!!! R&R!!!!! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Well, hell-o people!! Sorry that the wait's been long…I've been scheming with the new chappie lately. Anyway, hope you awesome readers enjoy!!

**Disclaimer: **I own a Gaius Baltar trading card. He's a total weasel, but I still love him. ^-^

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Bill Adama had quickly grown accustomed to not seeing his only son walking around Galactica since he'd left to command the Pegasus with Dee Dualla. To tell the truth, he was a little relieved that Lee wasn't on board his ship anymore; no more Lee meant no more painful reminders of his other son, his dead son. So the old man was more than surprised when Lee came barging into his quarters like he was being chased by an army of cylon centurions.

"I need, to talk to you," Lee stated in an out-of-breath rasp.

Slightly stunned into obedience by his son's matter-of-fact demand to talk, the old man gestured to an armchair in front of his desk, then went to his liquor cabinet and pulled out two tumblers and a bottle of ambrosia. "Drink?"

Lee nodded, then tiredly collapsed in the armchair. "Gods, you wouldn't believe the morning I've had so far."

"Up to your eyeballs in papers, I'm guessing?" Adama asked as he filled the tumblers with the green-colored alcohol, and handed one to Lee.

"I wish." Lee absently swished the ambrosia around in his glass. "Kara came over to the Pegasus a little while ago...I was in for one hell of a surprise."

"That's nice...she'd been a little jumpy to see you-"

"Sir, she's pregnant," Lee suddenly interrupted. He then realized that it was a bad idea to let that part of the secret out, and mentally kicked himself for it.

The old man looked at his son strangely. "Starbuck doesn't seem like the motherly type, but no matter. Who's the father? Anders?"

Lee gulped nervously; he'd been hoping that he would have to admit that the child was his, but the Lords of Kobol had other plans for him. He knew there was no escaping this now.

Taking a deep breath to keep himself steady, he looked his father dead in the eye, and said hesitantly, "It's not Anders', sir...it's mine."

Adama froze where he stood. He wasn't sure if he'd heard his son correctly. "It's - it's yours?"

"Yes sir." Lee gave the old man a grim smile. "Looks like I'm gonna be a dad."

Adama was suddenly numb with shock, so numb with shock that he didn't notice when his ambrosia-filled tumbler slipped out of his battered hand and exploded into a million pieces on the floor. He'd always believed that his oldest son had kept his relationship with Galactica's top viper pilot on a sibling-like level. Now, here he was, telling him that their relationship was anything _BUT _sibling level, and now possibly parental level.

"How long has Starbuck been p-pregnant?" he stuttered, his mind still unable to grasp the reality he was being exposed to.

"A month or two, maybe. She didn't say."

"A month..." The old man glanced at his son, and sighed sadly. "My gods, Lee...you're still so young..."

"Sure as hell don't feel like it," Lee grumbled. "What do I do, sir?"

"Well, under normal circumstances and as the admiral of the fleet, I'd tell you to keep your mind on your job and to not worry about Kara."

Lee was surprised by the old man's response. He never suggested something as ridiculous as this unless he absolutely hated the person he was talking about; Lee knew for a fact though, that the admiral felt anything BUT hatred for Kara - to him, she was like the daughter he never had. So, his suggestion to simply "forget" Kara put Lee on edge.

"Don't worry about Kara? Are you crazy, sir?! Why in the HELL would you suggest-"

"Remember your place, Lee, and watch your mouth," the old man commanded in a low voice. "If you'd let me finish what I'm saying, you might have some better choices."

Like a robot, Lee shut his mouth and stared at his father expectantly. Satisfied with the obedience, Adama continued on. "Now, I'd only tell you to do that if I was talking to you as the fleet admiral. But," he paused with the ghost of a smirk, "I'm not talking to you as a fleet admiral. I'm talking to you as a father, and as a father, I'm telling you to stay with Kara, support her, and give her everything you've got."

"Easy for you to say...Kara's really frakking pissed at me right now. I wouldn't be surprised if she told me she hated me."

Adama grasped Lee's shoulder firmly. "Trust me on this, Lee. If you love Starbuck, you'll go find her. You need each other more than you know." He pointed a hand at the hatch. "She shares quarters with Hotdog and Racetrack, in case you're wondering. Dismissed."

Lee nodded, gave his father a curt salute, then walked through the hatch. But, just as he was about to close the hatch, the old man stopped him and said, "Oh, and Lee?"

"Sir?" Lee addressed in a confused voice.

Adama gave his son a subtle half-smile. "Congratulations, son."

-------

Kara was still pissed off at Lee, even though it had been a couple hours since she'd returned to Galactica. His words to her had practically burned extremely large and painful holes in her heart, and forced a sense of betrayal on her. At the moment, Kara wanted to hurt Lee so badly her hands immediately curled up into fists just thinking about.

"Gods, I wanna strangle Lee so much it's not even frakking funny," Kara growled as she walked back to the family quarters with Sharon.

"Oh boy," Sharon sighed. "How bad was it?"

"BAD. Lee and I were pretty much two point-five seconds away from clobbering each other, until..."

"Until what?"

"Until I let slip that I was pregnant. And...well, Lee looked ready to pass out, he was so freaked out. Then, he decides to frak up everything by saying he's not ready to be a dad, so I get pissed, tell him to be an asshole and a coward on the battlestar, and stomp out."

Sharon snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't beat the everliving shit outta him."

"Yeah, go figure."

Both women now stood in front of Sharon's quarters. Sharon jutted her thumb at the hatch, and asked Kara if she wanted to stay for a little bit.

Knowing that Hotdog and Racetrack would bombard her with questions the moment she was in the pilots' quarters, Kara nodded. "You bet I do," she smirked.

"All right, but be quiet. Baby's probably sleeping."

"Sharon, she's THREE. She's not a baby anymore."

"Forced habit," Sharon explained as she opened the hatch. The hatch was only halfway open when a small figure in a little blue dress hurtled through the doorframe and into Sharon's arms.

"Mowning, mama!" Hera greeted her mother in her tiny sing-song voice.

Sharon kissed Hera on the forehead, and gently hugged her. "Well good morning, pooka. Did you sleep well?"

Hera spread her arms wide. "Yes! Yes!"

"Good." Sharon repositioned Hera so she sat on her hip, then turned to Kara with a small grin on her face. "Guess who's here, Hera?"

Pure glee bloomed on Hera's face as Sharon set her down on the floor. "Auntie Kawa!" the little three-year old shrieked delightedly.

Kara held her arms out as Hera made a frenzied beeline for her; she then scooped the toddler up, swung her around a little, and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh my gods, you're getting so big, Hera!" Kara gave her niece a soft squeeze, and she squealed and giggled in response.

Listening to Sharon's daughter and her innocent laughter gave Kara a warm and joyful feeling. She absolutely adored Hera like she was her own daughter.

Lost in her thoughts, Kara didn't notice that Sharon and Hera were trying to get her attention, until Hera grabbed a large chunk of her hair and yanked on it as hard as her little three-year old body would let her.

"Hera! That wasn't nice!" Sharon scolded her daughter.

Kara waved it off. "Don't sweat it. I'm fine." She winced a little from the stinging on her scalp. "What's the matter, cutie?"

"Inside! Inside, Auntie! Bweakfast time!"

Kara laughed. "All right, Hera. You hungry?"

"Vewy hungwy!" Hera parrotted her aunt. "I want bweakfast!"

Kara tapped her niece on the nose playfully, then stepped inside the quarters with Sharon. Once inside, she was greeted by Helo and the faint smell of toast.

"What's up, Buck?" Helo asked as he took Hera and put her in a high chair.

"Oh, nothing..." Kara beamed as she paused. "Except I'm officially pregnant."

For a few seconds, Helo stared blankly at Kara as his mind processed the news. Then, he smirked in amusement.

"Took you long enough. I was wondering when you were gonna get knocked up."

Kara lightly smacked Helo on the back of his head. "How about some congratulations, fraktard?" she corrected him jokingly.

"Hey, I was getting there." Helo gave Kara a slightly throaty chuckle. "First though, who's the dad?"

It instantly became silent enough to hear a pin drop in the quarters. Feeling less like a cocky viper pilot and more like a hormonal and shy schoolgirl, Kara shifted her weight from her left foot to her right foot, and from her right to her left in the awkward quiet.

"It's Lee," she mumbled as she fixed her eyes on her boot-clad feet and the hardwood floor beneath her.

Once again, silence radiated throughout the quarters like a drug, and the look Helo gave Kara was one of incredible disbelief.

"APOLLO? Are you serious about this, Buck?"

Kara nodded sheepishly.

All of a sudden, the flabbergasted gawk all but vanished from Helo's face, and an impossibly large grin replaced it. "DAMN, Buck, aren't you a lucky pilot!" He clapped Kara on the shoulder. "About frakking time Lee became a daddy!"

"Sure as hell don't feel lucky," Kara muttered heatedly. "Lee told me he wasn't cut out for fatherhood."

"What do you mean?"

"He told me he wasn't ready to be a dad yet, the frakker."

"It's just a phase thing, Kara," Sharon offered. "Helo did the same thing when he found out I was pregnant. It'll pass...just give Lee some time to take it in."

"And what if he doesn't take it in?"

Sharon pursed her lips into a thin line. "Like I said, give Lee some time."

"If you haven't noticed yet Sharon, I've given him two frakking hours to get used to me being pregnant. Right now, he can kiss my royal Caprican ass and screw trying to take on his daddy role, because so far, I haven't seen or heard him man up and try to get me back."

A sudden, curt knock on the hatch and the sound of someone asking for Sharon or Karl quickly silenced Kara. When the knocking started again, the unknown someone's requests for the two became more intense.

_An unknown someone that sounds like Lee, _Kara thought bitterly as the knocking got louder. _Godsdammit, WHAT THE FRAK IS THAT DIPSTICK DOING HERE!!_

Her eyes zeroed in on Helo and Sharon, and she jabbed her index finger at the hatch. "Get me outta here without him noticing," she directed sharply. "I don't want to be near that uptight jackass at all."

Helo gave Kara a puzzled look. "Why are you so paranoid about dodging Apollo? What's your damage with him?"

"FRAK HELO, GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

"Fine fine fine!" Helo rolled his eyes, then walked over to the hatch with a strangely cocky air. "Better be ready to run, Buck. I'll let you know when, 'kay?"

Kara found it odd that Helo was talking to her like he was filling her in on a practical joke he was about to pull. He sounded like he was up to something, something they both knew that she wasn't going to like when she found out all the little details that went along with the plan.

She was just about to confront him, when Helo opened the hatch and let Lee walk in. Kara's breathing hitched the moment she glanced in his direction; Lee may have been a complete stick in her ass, but he was one flawlessly, dizzyingly, insanely handsome stick in her ass.

He was also one flawlessly, dizzyingly, insanely handsome stick in her ass that almost immediately singled her out as she stood rigidly in the middle of the quarters. "What the hell are you doing here, Kara?"

"What the hell are _you _doing here, Lee?" Kara fired back, her angered voice lashing out at Lee as cold and sharp as a razor.

Lee didn't say anything as he slowly walked over to Kara and gently grasped her arm. With breaking eye contact with her, he asked Helo and Sharon, "Can I borrow her for a couple hours?"

"Keep her," Helo shrugged as he removed a now-sleeping Hera from her high chair and took her over to her bunk. "We were actually gonna boot her. Sweet pea needs her nap time, and the last thing we need is Kara cussing like a marine in here."

Kara gave Helo a tight-lipped frown. "Thanks a lot, Helo."

"Sorry, Buck."

Lee cleared his throat to break up the forming argument between the two. "In that case, thank you, Captain, and thank you, Lieutnenant." He proceeded to drag Kara towards the hatch like a little kid dragging his blankie behind him. "See you two around."

With the hand that wasn't holding his daughter, Helo twiddled his fingers at Kara. "Have fun, Kara."

Kara returned his teasing farewell with a dark glare. "Judas," she called out just as Lee closed the hatch behind them.

Once the bulkhead fell shut with a loud, dull _THUD_, Lee spun Kara around so that they were eye-to-eye with each other, their faces separated by a space of only a few mere centimeters. Kara quickly noted that she close enough to Lee to see the very-faint splashes of green in his eyes, and close enough to him to really admire the way the hall lights made his eyes shine and glimmer like two pale blue gemstones.

"We need to talk," Lee declared in a low whisper. "You know what I'm talking about."

Kara gave Lee a suspicious look; he could've wanted to talk to her about his behavior and say that he was sorry...or he could've wanted to make more of an ass out of himself and embarrass her for her behavior on the Pegasus. Hoping it was the former, she stiffly nodded her head, and attempted to give Lee her best half-smile to ease up the tension that had begun to build up between them.

"Let's just do it where everybody on Galactica isn't gonna hear." It was now her turn to take Lee by the arm. She grasped his bicep, and began to tug him in the direction of the brig. "I know just the right place for us to talk."

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**SQUEE!!! SO HAPPY I GOT THIS CHAPTER DONE!!! HOPE YOU PATIENT PEOPLE ENJOY THIS ONE!!!!! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Well now, LOOKY HERE!!! I'M ON CHAPTER FIVE!!! Never actually thought I'd get this far with this sucker, but whatever! TOTAL DISCO JOHNNY-BOBNESS AND THENSOME!! :D

**Disclaimer: **I own an emo piggy bank that glows in the dark. LOVE IT!! :3

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Bill Adama rarely got nervous. If he did, then it was either because the fleet was at risk of an insanely large cylon attack; or because Lee, Kara, or President Roslin was in danger. Today, however, the old man had different reasons for why there was a cold and clammy sweat dewing on the back of his neck.

With a walk that closely resembled the slow stride of a man going to meet his death, Bill climbed up the stairs to the President's cabin, and pressed an intercom button beside the entrance. "Madame President?" he said in his gravelly, low-as-rumbling-thunder voice.

Her voice seemed to float through the door like a ghostly breeze as she told him to come inside. He opened the door, and was immediately greeted by Tory Foster ushering him to a seat, as well as the President giving a subtle, serene smile.

"Admiral Adama," she beamed as the name glided off her lips, "how may I help you?"

Bill sucked in a breath of air before re-opening his mouth to speak. "I have news...and quite frankly I'd feel a lot better if it were discussed in private."

Hearing the pleading undertones in his request, the President bowed her head in understanding, and granted Bill's wish for some privacy by sending Tory down to the cockpit for a few minutes. Once she'd disappeared from her field of vision, President Roslin leaned back in her armchair and sighed gratefully. "Thank the GODS, Bill. I thought I was going to lose my mind if Tory didn't stop acting like a helicopter parent around me. She thinks that I'm in an extremely fragile state because I'm in my sixties and stuck with cancer."

"Really makes you wish Billy were here, huh? Gods, I still can't get over the fact that he's gone...a great kid like him, gone."

"Yes...Billy was a great person..." Her eyes briefly reflected the deep sadness over Billy's loss before seriousness overtook it. "You said you had news, Admiral?"

"Madame President-"

"Bill, there's no need for formality right now. Call me Laura, please."

Bill shrugged. "_Laura, _I recieved a pregnancy report this morning. Scared the hell outta me when Lee came in my office this morning and told me."

"Oh my, that's wonderful!" Laura clapped her thin, pale hands together in delight. Pregnancies were getting harder to come by these days, and with the human race continually dwindling, the rarity of babies in the fleet was a major problem. So, in the mind of the President, a pregnancy was now something to largely celebrate. "Did your son mention who the parents were?"

Adama tried to swallow back his uneasiness, but found it hard to do so; the lump that formed in his throat gave him the feeling of somebody trying to cram rocks down it, and it was as dry and as rough as sandpaper. Nonetheless, he managed to answer with a hoarse yes.

"Might I ask who they are, Bill?"

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about." Bill summoned up as much of his strength as he could, and aggressively willed himself to speak. "Lee's going to be a father in a few months."

Laura nodded like there was nothing wrong in the statement so far. "And the mother?" she inquired curiously.

_Gods Laura, please understand. _

"It's Starbuck...she's the mother."

The instant 'Starbuck' slipped out of Bill's mouth, Laura's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Starbuck's the mother?" she said, echoing Bill's words.

Bill nodded sheepishly.

All of a sudden, Laura burst out laughing - loud, larger-than-life, belly-rolling guffaws that Bill never thought he would hear come out of the President's mouth in his entire life.

"Oh my gods!" she gasped. "I can't believe Captain Thrace and your son are going to be parents! This is frakking EXCELLENT news!!"

Bill was slightly taken back by Laura's overly excited behavior; of all the possible reactions he'd conjured up in his mind, he never would have considered that this jubilant celebration would be among his mental list of possible outcomes. She was acting like his top pilot's pregnancy was the most wonderful thing since he replaced Helena Cain as Admiral of the Fleet. He was more taken back though, when Laura rushed at him, wrapped him in a bear hug, and pecked him on the cheek.

"Oh lords Bill, this truly is wonderful! I'm so happy for Lee and Captain Thrace!"

The old man smiled into Laura's wave dark auburn hair. "Yes...it really is wonderful."

-------

Lee didn't realize that Kara was taking the both of them down to hack until they were escorted into the all-too-familiar and tiny cell by a stolid-faced marine. When he did recognize this, Lee almost immediately understood what Kara was going to do.

"Just stand guard outside for a couple hours," Kara directed the marine.

The marine scratched his thick neck in confusion. "Yes sir, but...why am I standing guard outside for a couple hours?"

She gave the marine her signature Starbuck grin. "Trust me, there's probably going to be certain things you aren't gonna want to see or hear."

Being smart enough to know what Kara was hinting at in her sentence, the marine nodded, and proceeded to lock her and Lee in the brig. "Two hours, Captain?" the marine verified.

"Yup. Two hours."

"Yes sir." The marine nodded again, then stepped outside the brig and shut the door.

Once the door had been shut, Kara turned to Lee with a sly grin on her face. "NOW, we can talk."

Lee supressed a chuckle. "Of all the places on Galactica that actually have some decent privacy, you picked the BRIG? C'mon Kara."

"Oh what, Lee? Were you expecting better?"

"Uh, yeah, I was." Lee crossed his muscular arms in front of his chest and cocked his head to the side. "I would've figured you'd pick one of the visitor's quarters or at least one of the nicer pilots' quarters."

"Too bad, Apollo. You'd better start getting used to the nitty-gritty," Kara smirked impishly. "Now, exactly _what _are we talking about?"

Lee noticed the fairly large distance separating him and Kara had now been shortened to a mere five inches - it took him a couple seconds to realize that it was Kara who was closing the space between them. Seeing her slowly - and somewhat seductively - saunter towards him all of a sudden made Lee feel lightheaded and dizzy.

_Oh gods, she's gonna be the frakking death of me. _

In an attempt to look calm and in control of the situation, Lee cleared his throat and tried to keep his breathing steady. "Look, I came here to say sorry about what I did on the Pegasus...I was being a jackass, and you didn't deserve to hear what I said to you."

The sound of Kara's foot monotonously tapping against the floor echoed throughout the small space of the brig. She gave Lee an impatient look, and pressed her lips into a small pink line. "Excrutiatingly long and dramatic apology accepted, Lee. Anything else you wanna say before I die of boredom?"

"Nice to know you're still acting like a viper jock," Lee commented sarcastically. "The other thing I wanna talk about is...the kid."

"Yeah, go on."

Lee sighed heavily. "I'll try and stay for as long as possible to raise the kid...when I leave, I'll come by as much as I can-"

Like a knife, Kara's hand slashed through Lee's drabble, and forced it to a complete halt. "Wait a sec, LEAVE, Lee? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Lee realized he'd made a bad mistake in suggesting that he'd try to visit Kara after she gave birth to their child - he was permanently stuck on Galactica with her and he knew it, whether he wanted to or not. Still, he tried - and failed - to convince Kara that this was the right thing to do. "Kara, I can't just leave the Pegasus and Dee-"

"What do you mean, leave Dee?! SHE'S YOUR GIRLFRIEND! YOU AREN'T EVEN ENGAGED TO HER, YOU FRAKKER!!" She suddenly whirled around and smashed her fist against the brig's titanium wall in rage and frustration, then sank to the floor and let her tears of distress drip down her face.

Feeling the strong need to comfort her, Lee slowly and cautiously sat down beside Kara, and took her left hand in his right when he was absolutely sure that she wasn't going to lash out and slug him. As soon as his fingers intertwined with hers, Kara leaned into Lee, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"Gods Lee, you have no idea how much I missed you...I don't want you to leave," she whispered, the tremors of her lower jaw causing her wispy blonde hair to brush gently against Lee's skin.

Lee planted a kiss on the crown of Kara's head. "Missed you too, Kara...missed you too." He squeezed her fingers gently. "Hey, look at me."

With an inaudible sigh, Kara removed her head from the soft curve in Lee's throat, and stared hesitantly at his deep blue eyes through her tear-diluted hazel eyes.

"Kara, just because I say that I'm leaving doesn't mean that I'm leaving right now. I'll stay here as long as you're pregnant and as long as you need me, 'kay?"

Kara gave Lee a flat look. "Looks like you're gonna be here for a long time then." She returned her head to the hollow in his neck, and placed a hand on his chest. "I need you more than you know, Lee."

Even through the layered thickness of his tanks, Lee shivered at the coolness of Kara's palm as she delicately placed it on his chest; he hadn't felt that coolness since the night they'd gotten together on New Caprica, and quite honestly, he'd missed the goosebump-ish feeling he got whenever she did that.

He sighed, and wrapped his arms tightly around Kara's thin frame. For a moment, Lee sat in the silence of the brig with Kara, and just held her close to him. Then, when the silence became too awkward for him to deal with, Lee decided to say something.

"Kara," he began. "I-"

Lee's attempt to talk to Kara was suddenly tossed out an airlock by the berserk screaming of the claxon and the bulldog-like marine hurriedly pounding on the hatch. "Commander Adama, Captain Thrace! We've got a problem!"

Almost instantly, Lee and Kara were on their feet, and charging out of the brig frantically. Kara quickly spotted a com-link on the wall across from her, and she brought up the command deck.

Instead of being greeted by the old man, like she'd expected, Kara was greeted by Colonel Tigh. "This is the X.O," he answered gruffly.

"It's Starbuck, sir. What the frak's going on?"

"Four cylon basestars just came up on DRADIS. We're sending out a viper squad to hold off those godsdamned raiders until we can jump."

Kara's stomach flipflopped with queasiness. _Four basestars. Oh gods, that's an entire frakking fleet!_

"Thank you, sir," she said weakly, then cut the com-link. She looked at Lee with a nervous grimace glued to her face, and said in the same soft voice, "Tigh says four basestars just appeared on DRADIS. The birds are being sent out to take care of the raiders until the fleet can ditch this hellhole."

Lee's skin turned the color of white paint. "Oh my gods, the Pegasus! Ship's probably getting hammered right now! Gods-frakking-dammit!" He shoved his arms into the sleeves of his flightsuit, and began to run towards the flight deck.

Kara followed behind Lee, and began to breathe hoarsely after only fifteen seconds of running. "Hey hey hey hey hey! Slow the frak down, Adama! I seriously don't wanna be winded before I jump in my viper!"

Touching on the fact that she desperately wanted to go on one last cylon turkey shoot before her life was blown to hell by her pregnancy turned out to be a bad idea for Kara. Lee whirled around, and clutched her shoulders with a frighteningly iron grip.

"No! Don't even THINK about piloting a viper, Kara! The last thing you, I, and our kid needs is you taking a heap of g-force and raider nukes!" he hissed. Lee then resumed his mad dash for the flight deck, and left a sullen-faced Kara behind. "And don't even try to sneak out when I'm not around!"

"Son-of-a-bitch, Lee! I'm not THAT pregnant!" Kara grumbled loudly to his back. Nonetheless though, she stomped away to the command deck to see how bad the situation with the basestars was.

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**SHWING SHWING!! 'TIS DONE!!!!! :D :D :D HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT!!!! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Yola!! Chapter number 6 is officially HERE!!! :D Note – the update at the end of chapter wasn't meant to be a "goodbye" conclusion to the story or some crap like that – I probably should've reworded that, but oh well. Don't worry, there's gonna be PUH-LENTY more chappies coming straight to ya!!

**tDisclaimer: **I own a glass mushroom. Ain't they the freakin' CUTEST?! ^-^

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Lee's heart was pounding with adrenaline and terror as he simultaneously jumped into the cockpit of his viper and yanked his helmet over his head. "C'mon! Let's go!" he shouted to the knuckledraggers as they set his bird in one of the launch tubes.

"Systems check, Commander."

Switches were flicked, and gauges were double-checked. "Systems are go."

"Commander Apollo, you are clear for launch."

The seemingly-endless procedures were beginning to irritate Lee beyond what he could tolerate. "Dammit all, get me outta here! My ship's being attacked!"

The orange jumpsuit-clad knuckledragger slammed his meaty fist down on the launch button, and Lee was catapaulted out of the launch tube, and into space. Almost immediately, he was greeted by a slew of raiders trying to take him and the rest of the viper squad out, as well as the four immensely intimidating cylon basestars looming in the not-too-far distance - and ceaslessly firing at both his and his father's ships.

"Holy shit," Lee gasped. "It's an entire frakking fleet!"

"Hey Lee, I think we established that already."

"KARA! What the frak are you doing in a viper?!"

"I'm NOT in a viper, Lee. I'm standing next to Tigh, talking through Hoshi's headset, and watching Galactica's DRADIS, okay?" Kara explained to him hotly. "What's the situation out there?"

Annoyed and somewhat embarrassed after his freak-out, Lee shook his head. "It's crazy as hell right now...godsdamned raiders have painted targets on the backs of our heads, and these basestars aren't doing much to help either."

There was a crackle of electricity and violent shaking on the other side. "Yeah, these metal bastards are giving us a frak-ton of lovin' right now," Kara snorted sarcastically. "We gotta get the hell outta here before they give us too much, otherwise we're royally screwed."

"Hear you loud and-" Lee was suddenly rendered mute for a millisecond as he witnessed one of the basestars fire two nukes - one headed for Galactica, and the other headed for the Pegasus. "FRAK!! GALACTICA!! YOU AND PEGASUS HAVE INCOMING NUKES!!!" he shouted. He cut off his contact from Galactica, and tried to make some with Pegasus before the nuke hit the ship. "PEGASUS!! PEGASUS, THIS IS APOLLO!! YOU HAVE INCOMING NUKES!!! I REPEAT, YOU HAVE INCOMING NUKES!!!"

Dee's voice came over Lee's com-link for a very brief moment. "Apollo, this is Pegas-"

The roar of the explosion as the nuke hit the Pegasus was deafening before Lee's com-link to his ship was cut off. "DEE!" he screamed, but it was no use. She wasn't going to answer him. Still, Lee kept shouting and screaming like his life depended on it. "DAMMIT DEE!! DEE, THIS IS APOLLO!! FRAKKING ANSWER ME!!"

"LEE!" Kara barked. "What the hell just happened?"

Head reeling from witnessing his ship's ongoing destruction, and voice sore and scratchy from screaming his head off, Lee croaked out hoarsely, "Galactica and Pegasus just got slammed with cylon nukes...I can't get through to Pegasus actual. Ship's getting it's ass kicked out there." Lee's DRADIS began to blink rapidly as a squad of raiders raced straight at his viper, and as the basestars fired another round of nukes at Galactica and Pegasus.

Lee's face blanched; it would only take a couple more nukes to completely destroy the battlestars, and the fleet couldn't afford to lose them both, not now. "GALACTICA! YOU'VE GOT INCOMING NUKES!"

"Godsdammit! We need to get outta here NOW!" Lee heard the sound of clicking and something being jammed - he instantly identified it as Kara sliding the FTL key into place. "All vipers, return to the hangar deck ASAP! All vipers return to the hangar deck! Jump in ten seconds!"

The entire squad of birds immediately flew back to Galactica, and one by one, every viper bounced roughly into the hangar bay just as Kara counted off, "THREE! TWO! ONE! JUMPING!" The last thing Lee saw before Galactica and the fleet jumped away to safety, was the Pegasus being blown apart by the raiders and basestars, and four raptors jumping ahead of the fleet. He only saw these horrible things for a split-second, and in the blink of an eye, it all disappeared. The fleet had jumped.

"FRAK!!" Lee raged as his viper was lowered down into the flight deck. He yanked the cockpit window open, vaulted out of his seat, and threw his helmet on the ground in a fit of fury and frustration. "SON-OF-A-FRAKKING-BITCH!!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Lee saw the four raptors from the Pegasus and their pilots; desperate to know if Dee was with the group of survivors, Lee sprinted to one of the pilots, and grabbed his arms. "Is Lieutenant Dualla with you?! Did she make it off the Pegasus?!"

The young pilot looked at Lee nervously, and gulped. "She didn't m-make it, sir. Lieutenant Dualla was hit in the head by a beam that fell after the first nuke exploded. Sh-she died instantly, sir."

Stunned into total silence by the news, Lee tried to take a deep breath, but found it difficult to do so. He let go of the pilot, who bit his lip and gave Lee a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, sir," he mumbled softly.

Lee didn't say anything to the pilot; instead, he slowly walked out of the flight deck, and headed for the observation deck - the one place he could go to and not have to worry about anybody finding him there. He knew that it had been barren and silent ever since what remained of humanity had been rescued from New Caprica, mostly because the people had sworn to themselves that they'd never lay their scarred eyes on another cylon again. At the moment, Lee needed to hole up in the quietness and isolation and just let himself go for a while.

He hastily walked past the command deck just as Kara came out with an exasperated frown on her face. He silently prayed to the gods that she wouldn't see him. But, his prayer was shoved aside and ignored; Kara stopped underneath the doorframe, and tried to get his attention.

"Lee?" she said, her voice ringing out as clear as the toll of a bell amidst the hecticness of the hallway.

Against his own will, Lee stopped moving, and looked over his broad shoulder at Kara. He peered into her eyes, and saw the deep pools of concern and wanting swimming in the mossy green color; at that moment, Lee knew that he need Kara desperately...yet, the need for the beautiful woman behind him was overwhelming him agressively. So, he ignored her calls for him and kept walking towards the observation deck.

Lee had only walked a foot or two before he heard Kara's irked footsteps clacking behind him. "Lee, talk to me."

Once again, Lee ignored Kara's demand to talk, and began to run as fast as his flight suit would allow him to move. Lee was aware that what he was doing was childish as hell, but he needed to be alone and free from the people on Galactica for a while, and Kara was sort of standing in his way of it.

"Godsdammit Lee! Wait!" Kara now attempted to keep pace with Lee as he wove through the clusters of officers and crewmen. "What the hell is wrong with you!"

It was becoming increasingly harder for Lee to ignore Kara's pleas - he had to focus all his energy on ignoring her and making it to the observation deck. He clenched his teeth together to keep himself from saying something he would regret later, and pressed on.

_Ignore her, ignore her, ignore her..._

"LEE!"

_Frak._

"Stay away from me, Kara! FAR away!" he shouted back at Kara, his soul shuddering at how repulsive and rejectful he sounded at the moment. Then, without another moment's hesitation, Lee resumed his run to the observation deck, never stopping or turning back to see if Kara was following behind him.

-------

_Stay away from me, Kara! FAR away! _Lee's words seemed to richochet around in Kara's brain like echoes bouncing off the sides of a cave. It made her skull buzz, and it gave her a nasty migraine.

Kara refused to let herself succumb to the blunt pain pulsing through her head, and she definitely refused to grant Lee's request and stay away from him; she knew damn well that she was getting somewhere with Lee, and there was no frakking way in HELL that she was about to give up on this. She loved him too much to back off on him. That, and besides, she was Starbuck, Lee's hot-shot problem pilot - unless she was flying CAP with him or they were on a cylon shooting frenzy, she rode him like a frakking show pony.

_I've gotta follow him, _she thought decisively. "_I'm not gonna let him go again._

Hoping that she might be able to catch up to Lee before she lost him in the swarm of officers, Kara began to weave through the sea of blue and green as fast as she could go, always checking up top to see if she could spot his head bobbing and ducking amidst the officers.

Kara had only been in the crowd for five minutes when she literally walked right into Helo. "You okay?"

Kara shook her head clear of disorientation before she talked to Helo. "Fine."

Helo was silent for a brief moment. "You looking for Apollo?"

"I find it creepy that you know that...but yeah. I have a hunch that he's trying to snatch a private place and some alone time."

Kara's hunch turned out to be correct. Helo pointed in the direction of the observation deck, and said in a low whisper, " He's heading for observation." He rubbed his forehead tiredly before continuing. "You should talk to him for a bit...he looked BAD when I saw him."

Kara shivered at the the thought of Lee looking _bad_. Lee was the type of person who only showed his emotions if he was in a great deal of pain; so Helo telling Kara that Lee looked bad meant that there was something that was seriously disturbing him.

Now, she DESPERATELY needed to find Lee.

She gave Helo a quick nod in thanks, then proceeded to jostle and shove her way through the crowd of officers. She had to find Lee right frakking now.

-------

Lee honestly didn't know what to do with himself as he slipped through the hatch leading to the observation deck. Gods, after what he saw a half-hour ago, he didn't know if he wanted to slug the rest of his life out or if he wanted to end the difficulties and commit a self-execution. Lee was devastated over Dee's death and frustrated over the fact that his _stick-in-his-ass _stubborness was screwing up his need for Kara, that at first the thought of taking his service pistol and putting an iron slug through his skull seemed like a good idea to him.

Until Lee took the time to think about what his suicide would do to the people he was close to. It would absolutely crush his father; to him, losing Zak was one thing, but losing Lee? That would have been like losing everything that had a great deal of value in his life.

And Kara. Oh GODS, Kara - Lee couldn't even imagine the sorrow and horror his suicide would create. The impact of it alone would probably drive Kara to depression and the brink of suicide as well. No, Lee couldn't do that to Kara; he loved her far too much to put her through that much pain.

"GodsDAMMIT!" Lee shouted in frustration as he slammed the toe of his combat boot against the thick metal wall. "What the frak am I supposed to do!"

Ignoring the dull throbbing radiating from his right foot, Lee collapsed in a nearby chair, and buried his face in his hands as his eyes began to mist up and as a pyramid ball-sized lump began to form in his throat. Gods, he needed Kara so badly that the lack of her prescence was enough to torture him.

While he'd been busy wallowing in the pit of his despair, Lee hadn't noticed that somebody else had snuck into the observation deck and taken a seat next to him. He or she reached out and gently touched his shoulder.

"Go away," he rasped with difficulty.

The person refused to budge. "Lee....talk to me."

Right off the bat, Lee recognized the voice as Kara's. The soft gentleness of her voice suddenly became the best thing he'd heard all day; in his mind, the words and their subtle musicality seemed to take on her form - glowing, heartwarming, uplifting, and a means of salvation. Hearing Kara speak brought him out of the current chaos of his life.

Out of embarrassment though, Lee refused to look at Kara. He couldn't let her see that he'd begun to cry and give up hope...letting her see that would totally screw over his reputation. "You really don't want to see me right now, Kara. I look like a frakking mess."

She sighed heavily in disappointment. "All right then, Lee. If you wanted me to leave, then you should have said so." She got out of her seat, and began to walk towards the hatch. "See you around, Lee."

Lee's head snapped up the instant he heard Kara say that. He didn't want her to leave! He needed her so much he felt like he would scream if she left. She couldn't leave!

He ran to Kara as fast as he could, spun her around to face him, then crashed his lips down on hers. The tears that had been building up in his eyes now flowed freely down his face as Lee kissed Kara with as much need and love as he could muster up.

Lee felt Kara tense up in surprise for a few seconds, then she relaxed and let all traces of rationality go. She latched one hand on to Lee's bicep, and entagled the other one in his hair as she attempted to deepen the kiss. She pressed her already-swollen lips to Lee's harder, and ran her tongue along his lower lip, her mind already cloudy with thick and hazy passion.

The simple action seemed to invigorate them with a desperate sense of wanting. Soon, every touch and movement between the two had grown hurried and frenzied; jackets and tanks were yanked off, and each one hungrily attacked the other like this was the last thing they were ever going to do together.

Even though he was fairly disgruntled with himself for deciding to stop briefly, Lee pulled away from Kara, and rested his forehead against hers. "You have no idea how happy I am with you around," he whispered breathlessly.

Kara glanced at Lee through her heavily-lidded eyes, and grinned softly. "You stopped just to tell me this?" Her fingers lazily drew small circles on Lee's bare chest. "Anything else you wanna shout out before we get going again?"

_Plenty of things, Kara._

"Gods Kara...you remember when you said you needed me more than anything in the brig? I need you more than anything, too. You and our kid, you're both my entire life now, Kara. I don't know what I'm gonna do without the both you here."

He peered into her brilliant hazel eyes, and saw that they'd become shiny with tears - tears of pure joy. "I love you, Lee," Kara beamed. "I love you so frakking much it hurts."

"I love you too, Kara." Lee could feel tears of happiness welling up in his eyes now, not that he cared. He was with Kara, the most amazing and stunningly beautiful woman he'd ever laid eyes on, and that was all that mattered to him at the moment. "Always have, always will." He then pressed his lips to Kara's, and resumed what the both of them had been doing minutes ago.

Of course, Kara readily accepted the kiss and the actions following it, even going so far as to sandwich herself between the wall and Lee's body, and wrap her legs around his waist. In response, Lee then carried her over to a clear space on the floor, and gently laid her down as if she were a china doll.

"Are you really up for this, Lee?" Kara asked him between kisses.

Lee grinned against her lips. "More than you know."

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**Well, you can obviously imagine what's gonna happen...but since I'm too modest to conjure up one hell of a smut scene, you guys are makin' up one in your heads. Sorry to those of you that were expecting some Lee/Kara heat. Anyway, hope you people like this chappie!! Next one coming soon!! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Hello again, guys!! Chapter 7 is officially HERE!!!!! Enjoy it!!!!

**Disclaimer: **I own a bottle of sparkly nail polish. SPARKLES!!!!!!!! :D

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"So...word on Galactica is that you and Lee had a little rebound action on the observation deck last night," Helo said casually to Kara in her quarters the next morning. "That true?"

Kara grinned at Helo impishly. "Bet your raptor-flying ass it's true. Gods, last night was probably the best frak I've had with Lee in a while." She grabbed her tanks out of her locker and pulled them on, feeling no shame in letting Helo see her in a sports bra or hinting at her love life. It wasn't like he cared anyway - Kara had been his best friend on Caprica for a long time, and by now he was used to seeing her in her underwear and hearing suggestive things come out of her mouth, this being no exception. She poked her head through the hole in her tanks, and said, "Who told you?"

"One of the pilots."

"Specifics, please."

"C'mon Kara, who's the _ONLY _pilot with a mouth bigger than the entire frakking fleet?"

Kara gave herself two seconds' worth of thought before saying, "You're talking about Hotdog, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm talking about Hotdog," Helo said as he gave Kara a _DUH _look.

"Figures, the guy's as gossipy as an old lady. What did he say?"

Helo smirked. "He said you looked pretty damn happy when you came back here. Must have shared a lot of intimacy with the CAG and enjoyed it, because the grin on your face could've stretched from here to Caprica-"

"He did NOT say that!"

"He did! He said, and I quote, 'You'd think she just frakked the sun god himself.' I'm telling you Kara, it's true!" Helo exclaimed.

_Oh, I'm gonna KILL Hotdog. _

Kara threw her head back and groaned. "Remind me to pigeon-neck Hotdog later." She pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail, then stared at Helo with a look of curiosity playing across her face. "Care to tell me what you're here for?"

"You sure you wanna hear it from me?"

"Let's go, Helo. Talk."

"If you insist...loverboy's looking for you. He said he had a surprise for you." An evil grin bloomed on Helo's face. "I believe it doesn't require you to wear your clothes."

Kara's mouth formed into a mortified o, and she quickly smacked Helo on the arm for the lewd hint he'd dropped. "Frak you!" she cursed while attempting to stop herself from having a massive giggle fit.

"Don't blame me," he said as he threw his arms up in mock-protest. "Apollo was the one dropping the hints, so if you're planning on killing someone, make damn sure it's not the messenger boy, 'kay?"

"Gladly. Can you tell me where this chucklehead, so I can knock some sense into him?"

"Well, you see, that's the other reason I'm here."

"What? To give me the exact location of the frakking CAG?"

"You could say that," Helo shrugged. "He asked me to get you and bring you over."

"Bring me-"

Helo held his hand up. "Don't bother asking where, Buck. It's a secret."

"Aw, isn't that cute. Lee keeps secrets - that's just too frakking adorable. How old is he, four?"

"More like four and a half, what with the crap he said to me," Helo snickered. "C'mon, you have to see this."

"Well, you got my curiosity spiked now, so let's go." With a slight spring in her step and a mischievious smile stretching from one pink cheek to the other, Kara followed Helo out of her quarters, and to Lee's supposed secret place. "This had better be a damn good secret place."

"To tell you the truth, it's kinda cheesy, but you'll like it." Helo smiled good-naturedly at his best friend, and gently clapped her on the shoulder. "Apollo knows you well, Buck. He's abso-frakking-lutely CRAZY for the badass, smartmouthed, beautiful pilot you are."

Kara raised an eyebrow. "I'm a badass, smartmouthed, beautiful viper pilot now? Huh, I thought I was Lee's problem chick."

"Eh, you still are-"

"Thanks, Helo." The blunt _THWAP _of Kara's palm slapping against the peachfuzz-like back of Helo's skull echoed quietly in the halls.

"You know, I wasn't done yet," Helo said somewhat irritably as he gingerly rubbed his head.

Kara stopped walking, and impatiently began to tap her foot on the floor. "Well, waiting on you, Helo. What is it?"

"Look, you may be annoying as annoying can frakking get, and you sure have one hell of a talent for getting on the CAG's nerves sometimes, but you know what, Kara? He still loves you, even the don't-give-a-shit-if-I'm-annoying part. Hell, that's all he ever talked about when you were down on New Caprica."

For a moment, Kara's war-hardened hazel eyes brightened with an innocent, child-like sheen as Helo presented her with this unknown fact. "He talked about me after New Caprica?"

"Yeah...he came by to Galactica a lot to say to the Admiral and have a drink or two with him. If you're wondering if I was there, then yeah, I was. You spend half of your time with the commander when you're the X.O. I'm getting off-subject now, though." Helo shook his head and chuckled. "Gods, you were all Apollo ever talked about - _she should be up here teaching the rest of the squad how to really fly a bird; it's too damn quiet without Starbuck here; have any of you talked to Kara lately? _- the conversations were almost always about you. Problem was, Apollo talked about you so much that it got annoying after a couple of weeks. At one point, the Admiral made up the rule not to talk about the Almighty Starbuck when, _if _she came back to Galactica."

"Guess I must be pretty damn popular with the CAG, huh?" Kara joked. Even though she was joking on the outside, Kara was beaming with pure happiness on the inside. _Wow, _she thought. _I can't believe Lee still thought about me when he was up among the stars. Frakking nice to know he loved me then. _

"Really nice to know Lee was still crazy for me."

"Of course he was still crazy for you. You're Starbuck, and he's Apollo. You guys were meant for each other, Buck."

"Wow, Helo. You really have no shame in saying something that sappy, do you?" Kara giggled.

"Never been ashamed to say it around you. One, because we've been best friends since we could talk; and two, because we both know it's true."

Kara smiled, and slung her arm around Helo's broad shoulders. "Gods, I sure as hell feel lucky to have you for a friend."

"I know you do, Kara. Now c'mon, Lee isn't gonna wait around forever."

-------

Lee drummed his fingers idly on the small metal sidetable standing next to him. He'd asked Helo to get Kara and bring her back to his quarters. It was a painstakingly simple five-minute ordeal - yet, it was taking the damn raptor pilot and his foulmouth wingman ten minutes to get their fannies over here.

_Where the frak are they?_

Patience completely evaporated, Lee was about to head out to find Helo and Kara, but he was stopped short by the former banging on the hatch.

"What took you so frakking long?" Lee called out in a slightly exasperated tone.

"Hey, no blaming the messenger boy. The wingman was taking her sweet time getting ready."

"Once again, thanks Helo." Even through the thick steel hatch, Lee could hear Kara smacking Helo upside the head. "Hey, Lee."

Lee's stomach pancaked and did a happy little flip - he couldn't get enough of Starbuck's voice now. "Hey, Kara."

"Well, can I come in or not?"

"Hatch is unlocked. Come in."

Almost immediately, the hatch flew open with a loud _CLANG,_ and there stood Kara, a cocky, yet goodnatured smirk dancing across her face, and one hand resting in the small curve above her hip.

Lee was paralyzed with amazement at the sight of Kara as she strode fluidly into his quarters. He could feel the goosebumps prickling up and down his arms as her wraith-like blonde hair floated out behind her, and as her mossy-green eyes darted around the room - not out of fear though, but more out of curiosity and observation.

"Guess I should be going...see you around Kara, Lee," Helo coughed in the tense silence of the quarters. "You guys need anything, me and Sharon are three hatches down from you guys." Then, as a gesture of respect, Helo quietly shut the hatch, and walked away to his quarters.

Once the hatch was completely sealed, Lee exhaled the air he'd unknowingly built up in his lungs in relief. He didn't even realize that he'd been holding his breath while Helo was here.

"Well, that was awkward."

Lee smiled to himself. _Typical Kara._

"Not as awkward as when I asked him to go and get you. I swear to gods, it was quiet in here you could hear frakking crickets chirping."

Kara snorted jokingly. "You do kinda' suck at asking people for favors." She walked over to the dining table resting against the far wall, pulled out a chair, and sat down on it with the back of it pressed to her chest. The way Kara sat down in that chair reminded Lee of a humanoid bird; she seemed to perch on the seat in a don't-give-a-damn way, and her arms sort of hanging off the back gave him the impression of unfurled wings. It somehow fascinated Lee to see her sitting like that, but then again, everything about Kara Thrace fascinated him these days.

"So, why'd you drag me down here, Lee?" Kara asked him casually.

Lee pulled up a chair, and sat down so his eyes were level with Kara's. He shrugged, and said, "Eh, I just wanted somebody to talk to...it's too frakking quiet in here."

Kara grinned. "You sure you didn't want to ask me something?"

_Damn, she's quick. _

"Fine. You got me." Lee stuck his hands up in the air like he was surrendering to Kara and everything that was tagging along behind her. "Don't know how the hell you caught on so fast, but yeah, I wanna ask you something."

"Floor's yours then, Major. Ask away."

Taking a deep breath, Lee asked, "What are we gonna do, Kara?"

Kara gave Lee a confused look. "What are we gonna do about what?"

Lee gestured to Kara's stomach, which had just barely begun to swell with her pregnancy. "What are we gonna do about our kid, Kara? We have no space set up for him or her, and I honestly think that neither of us have a clue about being frakking parents," Lee noted. "That, and what are we gonna do about ourselves? The both of us should be sharing the same quarters right around now..."

Kara smirked. "Lee Adama, are you asking me to live with you?"

Lee's heart stopped for an instant. _Yes! Frak yes, I want you to live with me! _

He gave Kara a half-smile and shrugged. "It's mostly for our child's sake, but pretty much...yeah." Lee scooted his chair closer to Kara's, then gently kissed her on the forehead. "Also, I'm asking because I love you more than anything, Kara. It would mean the world to me if you said yes."

For a brief second, Kara was frozen with shock at Lee's request. Then, she was about ready to jump around his quarters, she was so happy. Ever since she found out she was pregnant, Kara had prayed to the gods to let her herself - and the unborn child she carried - be close to Lee in any shape or form. Now, those old supernatural deities were happily acknowledging Kara and her prayers.

She stood up, and shook her head in disbelief. "My gods, Lee...WOW."

"I'm guessing that's a no, then?" he asked with an unsure tone in his voice.

All of a sudden, a huge grin broke out on Kara's face. "I'm sorry Lee, but you are a real DUMBASS if you think I'm saying no to your offer. Of frakking course I say yes!" she exclaimed.

Lee couldn't contain himself. He grabbed Kara, and spun her around the room while she shrieked delightedly. He had waited a long time for Kara to say yes to this. And now, here they were, spinning around in Lee's quarters and laughing and shouting with pure joy at the wonderful moment.

"Okay Lee, you can put me down now," Kara gasped, her lungs beginning to ache from screeching and squealing like a four-year old.

More than happy to do anything that Kara asked him to, Lee gently set her down, wrapped his arms around her small waist, and kissed her squarely on the lips. The two stood in the middle of the quarters, just reacquainting themselves with the feeling of each other's mouths and the sensation that arose from it. It was hard for Lee and Kara not to take it farther than that.

Finally, Kara pulled away from Lee, and stared at him with a wide smile on her glowing face. Lee could see that her eyes had become shiny and dilated with tears. "Holy frak Lee, I can't believe you're actually doing this. Thus far, you are AMAZING."

Lee chuckled. "Glad you think so," he replied, then pulled her close to his body, and held her that way for a long time.

They stayed this way for almost a half-hour. Neither of them pulled away though. Lee Adama and Kara Thrace - for the moment - were the two happiest people in the entire frakking fleet, and that was who they wanted to be right now.

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**SHA-WINGA!!!! CHAPTER NUMERO SEPT IS UP AND DONE!!!! READ AND REVIEW GUYS, AND BE ON THE LOOK-OUT FOR CHAPTER EIGHT!!!!! :D**


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